Hive project adds Vancouver tastes

An initiative by a non-profit to bring bees to Vancouver has yielded some tasty results — giving residents a chance to come as close as one can get to literally tasting their neighbourhood.

In 2011, Hives for Humanity brought apiaries — bee colonies — to community gardens around Vancouver as way to help boost their populations while doing some good in the community.

What they’ve discovered since is the honey from the 70 such apiaries in Metro Vancouver yield different flavours depending on the neighbourhood.

Sarah Common works with the buzzing philanthropists and the spoils of their labour, which are sold via the non-profit doing work on the Downtown Eastside.

“You can definitely taste your neighbourhood in your honey,” said Common. “And that’s why we profile out honey by neighbourhood.”

Currently there are nine such flavours, and Common said they start out in Delta tasting like a typical floral or clover kind of honey, to honey that tastes strongly of caramel in the Downtown Eastside.

“In between there’s citrus and floral, and blends with that caramel undertone,” she said.

There’s hives in Kitsilano, Mount Pleasant and Commercial Drive to name a few, and the honey is available at East Van Roasters on Carrall Street.

Another apiary is being opened Monday at the Milross Gardens on Main Street. Common said the gardens also plant crops that bees can easily pollinate to help increase their numbers, which studies have shown have been decreasing across the continent.

Along with the bee keeping Hives for Humanity together with Amacon offers the public a chance to take part in a bee mentorship program in which they can learn all about the activity.